{"id":18,"date":"2011-09-13T00:19:48","date_gmt":"2011-09-13T00:19:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nzvegan.co.nz\/?page_id=18"},"modified":"2011-09-13T00:19:48","modified_gmt":"2011-09-13T00:19:48","slug":"the-moral-personhood-of-all-animals","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nzvegan.com\/?page_id=18","title":{"rendered":"Moral Personhood"},"content":{"rendered":"

The moral personhood of all animals<\/span><\/h3>\n

In his\u00a0books<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0blog<\/a>, \u00a0North American Professor of\u00a0Law and Philosophy\u00a0Gary L. Francione<\/a>\u00a0educates laypersons about the difference between property and persons, in the context of the animal rights movement. \u00a0Human beings (and corporations as a matter of fact) are legal persons. \u00a0All other animals are not legal persons, they are chattel property.<\/p>\n

For expert analysis of these concepts please refer to\u00a0Gary Francione\u2019s books<\/a>\u00a0(six of which are currently available at the\u00a0Auckland City Library<\/a>!)<\/p>\n

For an excellent visual summary of the concept of animals as property, please take the few minutes to watch the slideshow\u00a0A<\/a>nimals As Property<\/a>\u00a0which you can also find in vimeo video format\u00a0HERE<\/a>. \u00a0This presentation is based on the book\u00a0Animals, Property and the Law<\/a>\u00a0(available at the Auckland City Library<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Despite this injustice which is the present harsh reality in which we all live, the truth is that\u00a0all<\/strong>\u00a0animals are persons. Vegans recognise the\u00a0moral\u00a0<\/strong>personhood of\u00a0all<\/strong>\u00a0animals, independent of their legal status as chattel property, because as we all know, animals are\u00a0sentient<\/a>\u00a0(not to be confused with\u00a0sapience<\/a>) and are therefore\u00a0persons\u00a0<\/em>not\u00a0things<\/em>. \u00a0 Fortunately for us all, it is not only vegans who recognise the moral personhood of animals; most people are very aware that the animals with whom they share their homes, the dogs, cats or birds and other animals, are persons not things. \u00a0<\/em>Many people consider them family members. \u00a0That just shows that there is a potential vegan inside almost everyone\u2014what is getting in the way is\u00a0speciesism<\/a>. \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The very same people who love and cherish the dogs, cats, birds and other animals with whom they share their homes, think nothing of participating in the enslavement, torture and slaughter of sheep, cows, pigs, chickens, fishes and all the other animals whose flesh they consume, milk they drink, skin they wear, etc. \u00a0We vegans know this very well\u2014after all, were we each of us not just the same\u2014many of us for the majority of our lives? \u00a0Unless someone happens to be vegan from birth\u2014like some lucky few\u2014then they too behaved in this way towards other animals at some point in their life. \u00a0 Depending on the culture in which we were brought up, we were all taught to be more speciesist towards certain animals, such as in New Zealand the \u201cfarm\u201d animals like sheep, pigs, cows, chickens and others, \u00a0whose body parts we consume and use. \u00a0From an early age most of us were taught that some animals are \u201cpets\u201d and it is wrong to be \u201ccruel\u201d to them, but that other animals are merely \u201cfood\u201d or other products. \u00a0Our parents, no doubt, were taught the same. \u00a0It’s time to break the cycle!<\/p>\n

In order to abolish the property status of animals, the status that renders them as mere\u00a0things<\/em>\u00a0to be used, we must relentlessly defend their moral personhood. \u00a0Abolitionist advocacy is all about the moral personhood of animals. \u00a0Just as with human slaves, once \u00a0someone recognises that the chattel property in question is actually a\u00a0person<\/em>\u00a0not a\u00a0thing<\/em>\u00a0it is instantly and unavoidably recognisable that it is immoral to continue to use them as a commodity, or otherwise act toward them in any way that does not recognise their personhood. Abolitionists never compromise on the truth that\u00a0all\u00a0<\/strong>animals are moral persons, and just as the\u00a0abolitionists against human slavery<\/a>\u00a0(whose struggle \u00a0continues to this day<\/a>\u00a0and whose work we\u00a0support<\/a>\u00a0in any way we can), \u00a0we refuse to advocate for anything less than the abolition of their status as property, and the first step is to work towards the\u00a0recognition of their moral personhood.<\/p>\n

The way to do that is not to campaign for \u201canti-cruelty\u201d laws,\u00a0\u00a0because until all animals are given the one right not to be property, any laws supposedly \u201cprotecting\u201d them are\u00a0meaningless<\/a>\u00a0(just as they were in the context of\u00a0human slavery<\/a>), because property is not granted any rights, only persons are. \u00a0The way to the abolition of animal exploitation is vegan advocacy, working towards creating nonviolent communities that reject animal use and refuse to purchase the products of animal exploitation. \u00a0The entire system of exploitation is based on the consumer demand for animal products, so that must be the primary focus of the abolitionist movement. \u00a0We are at the initial stage, this is the beginning of something incredible that is going to change the world. \u00a0Veganism is already becoming a talking point. \u00a0Let\u2019s keep that ball rolling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The moral personhood of all animals In his\u00a0books\u00a0and\u00a0blog, \u00a0North American Professor of\u00a0Law and Philosophy\u00a0Gary L. Francione\u00a0educates laypersons about the difference between property and persons, in the context of the animal rights movement. \u00a0Human beings (and corporations as a matter of fact) are legal persons. \u00a0All other animals are not legal persons, they are chattel property. … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Moral Personhood”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1288,"parent":0,"menu_order":4,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-18","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzvegan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzvegan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzvegan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzvegan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzvegan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nzvegan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/18\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzvegan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzvegan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}